Beneath the Clear, Light, Blue
by I Am Your Singer 2006
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures. King Triton was well familiar with the phrase. When Ariel suddenly went missing from his kingdom, he felt forced to resort to it. But will his plan work? Will he find Ariel, or will his tactic result in losing even more of his daughters?


Okay, this idea came to me as I was reading another fanfic. This probably never would have happened in the movie, but I thought it would make for a good fanfic.

Chapter 1

The waters of the kingdom of Atlantica darkened as night came upon them. At first glance, the kingdom appeared calm, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. The entire kingdom was searching high and low for Princess Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton. The only place where there was no activity was in the throne room. King Triton stood by one of the windows, staring out at the seemingly empty distance. Worry marked the king's every feature. His youngest daughter, Princess Ariel, had disappeared. And it was all his fault, the king thought to himself. A few hours before Ariel had disappeared, he had summoned Sebastian to his throne room after he had learned that Ariel had fallen in love. Somewhere in that conversation Sebastian had accidentally revealed that Ariel had saved a human boy from drowning earlier that week.

He then rushed to confront Ariel about it. When he found her, she was inside a small cave where she had secretly hidden a very large collection of human objects that she had been collecting. And right in the middle of collection was a large statue of the human she had rescued. It had only gotten worse from there. He had tried to remind her of the dangers of the human world. They ate fish, after all, and he feared that he might one day lose one of his daughters to that fate. He had had this exact same argument with Ariel just hours before she had saved this human. But Ariel did not listen and instead accidentally confessed that she was in love with this human. That turned out to be the last straw for Triton, and he proceeded to angrily destroy a large number of the objects in her grotto.

And all of that had happened just that morning. Triton shuddered at the memory. He had never bothered to ask why she was so interested in the human world. It now seemed that that had been the problem all along.

_But if you would just listen…_

_NOT ANOTHER WORD! And I am never, NEVER to hear of you going to the surface again! Is that clear?_

Oh, how he wished he had listened…

He had always had a short temper, but that had been his worst display by far. Now, whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Ariel's terrified face as he unleashed his trident upon her collection. All he could hear were her pleading cries that he stop, and her heart-wrenching sobs as he left her.

He opened his eyes again and saw a flash of orange to his side. He turned and saw one of his seahorse heralds floating in front of him. Once it became obvious that Ariel had disappeared, he had alerted the entire kingdom to search for her. He suspected that the seahorse had arrived to give him his latest report.

"Has there been any sign of her?"

Triton hoped that the seahorse would be bringing word that they had found her, or had at least found something that could lead to finding her, but when he saw the somber look on his face, he already knew that they had not. That didn't stop his heart from sinking even further when the seahorse shook his head.

"No, Your Majesty. We've searched everywhere. We've found no trace of your daughter or Sebastian."

It turned out that Ariel's disappearance coincided with Sebastian's. Triton could only assume that his advisor had disappeared with Ariel, but he had no way of knowing with absolute certainty.

_We've searched everywhere._

Sudden a stray thought entered the back of King Triton's mind. He knew that that wasn't quite true. There was only one place they hadn't looked. But Ariel couldn't possibly be there. Triton tried to push the stray thought from his mind, but the thought was still there. He knew that he could no undo it. There would be no point in following through with such nonsense.

"Well, keep looking. Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored, and let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home."

Triton knew that it would be useless. He had already ordered their search efforts go beyond the kingdom's borders.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the seahorse nodded. As he turned to relay the message to the kingdom, he was stopped once again by the sound of Triton's voice. "Wait," he commanded. The seahorse stopped and turned back to face the king, waiting to see if he would be given further orders. But to his surprise, Triton remained silent. He saw that the king appeared to be thinking about something, and so he kept his silence and waited to hear what the king would say to him. Several minutes passed and it seemed that the king had forgotten that his herald was even in the room. Tension had grown within the room and it got to a point where the seahorse couldn't take the silence anymore. He lifted his face towards the king and asked, "Your Majesty, was there anything else you wished to tell me?"

Triton came back to attention and looked at the herald. The king's eyes narrowed. He saw him shrink back slightly. Triton sighed when he saw this.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, it's just that I thought you were about to give me further orders."

King Triton nodded. He chose to proceed with what he was thinking.

"Tell my daughters that I would like to speak with them."

The herald silently nodded his head and exited the room. Triton slowly swam back to the throne and sat on it. He needed this moment of solitude to figure out why he was even thinking of this. His youngest daughter was already missing, and what he was planning could only run the risk of him losing another daughter. He had no way of knowing if his hunch was even right. The very idea of it sounded ludicrous. A small sound caused him to look back up and towards the main entrance of the throne room. He saw six figures gathered there, his daughters. Each of his six other daughters silently entered the throne room. Aquata, the crown princess, led the group. She was followed closely by Alana, his second-youngest daughter, and Adella, his third-youngest. Andrina and Attina followed farther back, confusion marking their faces. Lastly, very far back, Arista swam into the room, her head looking down at the floor. The six of them lined up in the order in which they had entered the room. They stood solemnly before the Sea King.

Triton attempted to hold his resolve for all of a few seconds before deciding that there was no point to it. He was speaking to them just as much as their father as he was as their king. For as long as he could remember, he had nearly always been formal with his daughters, but for once he no longer cared. He sighed solemnly as he slumped his shoulders. "Good evening, girls," he said after a long silence. The six of them looked at each other briefly before saying, "Good evening, father."

The king hesitated once more. His daughters were just as distraught as he was over Ariel's disappearance. He wanted to say this the right way. He didn't wish to cause any further distress. A groan escaped his mouth when none came to mind.

"I would like to discuss Ariel's disappearance with you."

They nodded shakily. Arista covered her face with one of her hands. Almost instinctively, Attina, who was still next to Arista, wrapped her arms around her into a comforting hug. Arista hugged her in return and rested her head on Attina's right shoulder. Arista cried into her shoulder while Attina turned her head to face her father.

"I wish there was something else I could tell you, Daddy, but I've already told you everything I know."

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you, Attina. Earlier this morning, you mentioned that she 'had it bad,' is that correct?"

Attina nodded.

"And then when I asked what you meant, it was Andrina who said that Ariel was in love."

His second-oldest daughter nodded in confirmation.

"I found this all very amusing until I found out just _who_ she was in love with."

"And she didn't think to tell any of us," Andrina groaned. "They always find it amusing until they learn who it is."

Had the circumstances been less serious, Triton probably would have laughed at Andrina's remark, but as such, he remained stern.

"She _didn't_ tell me, so I summoned Sebastian to find out who it was, and he informed me that she had fallen in love with a…_human_."

There was a collective gasp from all six of his daughters that were present in the room. They all knew that Ariel had been curious to learn about the human world, and was never quick to condemn it, but even this seemed like a stretch to them.

"Daddy, are you sure about this?" Alana asked. "Maybe Sebastian was mistaken. Yes, she may go to the surface a lot, but she would never…"

"Ariel confirmed it when I confronted her about it," Triton flatly answered. "She apparently saved him from drowning earlier this week."

"But Daddy, what does this have to do with Ariel's disappearance?" Arista couldn't help but ask.

"I'm beginning to wonder if the reason no one can find Ariel is because she's no longer in the sea. I fear she may have somehow become human."

There was another collective gasp at this.

"But Daddy, how is that even possible?" Aquata asked. "There's only one way she could have become human, and I know you would never…"

"Ursula," Triton said.

The mere mention of her name sent a shudder through each of his daughters. Aquata began to shake uncontrollably at the mere thought of Ariel in Ursula's clutches. She soon felt Alana's reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"What about her?" Arista asked.

"Ursula could have used her magic on her. I'm not sure how or even if they somehow got into contact, but it wouldn't be the first time she made a 'deal' with one of my subjects, and you know just as well as I do that those _never_ end well."

The six princesses nodded solemnly. Arista found herself trembling again. It wasn't too long before Attina began hugging her again. Arista wasted no time in wrapping her arms around her.

"But Daddy, if Ursula really did turn Ariel into a human, what can we possibly do about it?" Adella asked. "It's not like we can confront her about this. She won't release Ariel from her contract."

"I know, and I was thinking of something else. It may sound preposterous, but it's the only way I can think to find this out without Ursula knowing of it."

"What?" they all asked in unison.

"I will take one of you to the surface and then I will turn you into a human. You will then look for Ariel and find out if Ursula did, in fact, turn her into a human. If she is now human, you are to help her complete her deal in any way that you can. Are any of you willing to volunteer?"

The six princesses stood completely motionless. They hadn't seen that coming. Never in their entire lives would they have thought they would have heard this from their father. It was Attina's turn to speak up.

"Daddy, do you really think Ariel would meet with her?"

Triton hadn't quite figured that one out. He sincerely hoped that Ariel would never think of going to her. It was common knowledge in Atlantica that no one should ever visit Ursula. He still hadn't figured out why he was even thinking of this. He suspected that it was desperation. He never would have even considered this possibility under normal circumstances. But he had hurt her so bad, and she apparently wished to become human herself based on what he heard her say to the statue in the middle of her grotto.

"I don't know if she would," he said hesitantly. "But I want to know if she did. I would do the same for any of you."

The six of them hesitated as they looked around the room. They all wanted to help Ariel, but this assignment seemed dangerous. Furthermore they were very surprised that their father was even planning this. Their entire lives they had been warned to stay away from humans. Their entire lives they were forbidden to go above the surface. But now the very merman who had laid down these rules was planning to turn them into these same humans and walk among them. They didn't quite know if they didn't answer right away because they were afraid or shocked. A long silence followed before a lone voice said, "I'll go." Aquata gasped when she heard who had spoken and said, "Alana, you can't!"

Alana leveled her gaze at her and took hold of her hand. "Please, I have to do this," she whispered. She then turned to her father and said, "If you don't want me to go alone, please, at least send someone to go with me."

The room once again became silent. Alana looked back and forth, looking to see if anyone would go with her.

Adella swam forward and stopped right next to Alana.

Triton felt apprehensive about the two of them going. He didn't feel comfortable sending a third daughter on this mission, but he would have felt much more at ease if he sent Aquata to go along with them.

He looked pointedly towards his eldest daughter.

"I don't quite feel comfortable sending the two of you alone. I think one more should go with you."

Aquata nodded and swam next to them. Triton sat straight up on his throne.

"You three will come with me. The rest of you are dismissed."

Aquata, Adella, and Alana stayed while the other girls went to their rooms. Silence came upon the throne room once more. They began to feel fear rise in their chests. This was really about to happen. Each one tried to push the fear away as they looked up at their father.

"Daddy, is there anything else we should know about this human?"

"His name is Eric, but aside from that I don't know much else. He's apparently someone of great importance in his kingdom. One of the objects in Ariel's collection was a large statue of him."

Triton then swam down from his throne and motioned for them to follow him. They silently swam out of the throne room and into the night waters. As they were about to head up to the surface, Triton looked back at them and said, "You may tell the humans your names if asked, but you are not to reveal your true selves." The girls nodded solemnly as they began to swim upwards. When they reached the surface, they quietly went above the waves and looked out at the sky.

Triton saw that it was a clear night and the sky was dark. The stars provided the only light. Further off, Triton could see lights coming from just past the shore. Triton looked for a good place to transform them. His eyes scanned the beach. He did not see any humans. A large, towering, structure that somewhat reminded him of Atlantica stood not too far away from the shore at one point. They would initially stay away from the palace. He directed them towards to another area of the shore that was empty. They climbed up onto the beach. He tapped each of their tails with his trident. Their tails immediately began to glow as they felt themselves be lifted up into the air. As they twirled around in mid-air, they felt their tails slowly begin to split. Their eyes widened when they saw that their tails had been replaced by a pair of human legs. Their shells had been transformed into gowns with matching slippers. They gently landed on the sand. It was a somewhat surreal moment when they saw their legs. They had really been turned into humans.

Triton then realized that they would need money. He then remembered a story that Sebastian had once told him. A few months earlier, a chest filled with human coins had fallen from a passing ship and landed on the outskirts of Atlantica. Sebastian had been able to bring the chest back up to the surface and deposit it on the shore. But he did not realize that some of the coins had been taken by an octopus and Triton soon discovered them, demanding an explanation from the crab. Triton tried to recall how the coins were designed. He then reached out and grabbed a handful of sand. With a wave of his trident, the sand transformed into a large assortment of gold coins. He then placed the coins in a pouch that was large enough to hold them and handed it to Aquata. There were now what Triton hoped would be enough coins in the pouch to buy several days' worth of food. All three girls hugged their father before they headed towards the nearby town. Triton watched them for a moment before he went back beneath the surface to return home to Atlantica.

…

Aquata, Adella, and Alana had been walking for some time when they reached the entrance to the kingdom. A large archway stood over the path that led into the town.

"Do we even know where to look?"

Alana knew it had to be asked. She thought it best to ask before they actually started looking. They couldn't help Ariel if they didn't have a sense of direction in their search.

"We should try to find this Eric. If Ariel is human, she would try to go straight to him," Aquata pointed out. "But I don't think we should ask for him," she added. "That will only draw unwanted attention. We should try to listen to people as we walk around.

The three princesses kept their guard up as they entered the town. A few humans were around, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to them. They stopped to look around the town and take in their surroundings. There was a large fountain in the middle of the square. Several benches surrounded the fountain. Lanterns hung above the doorways of the various surrounding buildings. Adella moved to sit on one of the benches before Aquata stopped her.

"Adella, we can't take a break now."

"But I'm hungry, and my feet are sore," she whined.

"You should have eaten at dinner."

Adella sighed. "I couldn't eat. We had just learned that Ariel was missing."

Aquata nodded knowingly. They had all been affected by Ariel's disappearance. She let go of her wrist and Adella sat down on the bench. Aquata walked towards her and sat down next to her.

Adella opened up the pouch and looked at the coins. She picked one out and turned it over several times in her hands.

"It's been hard on us all, Adella. But we don't know anything about human food. How do we know what does or doesn't contain fish?"

Alana pointed to a sign that said, "Bakery."

"I think we should be okay if we buy something there," she told them.

Adella was about to question how she knew that before she suddenly remembered what she had said earlier.

"You knew of Ariel's visits to the surface," she whispered.

"Everyone knows of them," Alana countered. "But not everyone knows what she learns up there."

"Do you mean that she…actually told you about this? You knew of her grotto? Of this human?"

Alana quickly shook her head. "No, she never told me about any of that. I never bothered asking because I thought we were both better off if I didn't know how she knew any of this. But this I do know, things that come from a bakery don't have fish in them. Plus, if rolls that humans eat are anything like the seaweed rolls we have back in Atlantica, we should be fine."

They walked up to the bakery and through the door. A short, portly man looked up from the counter as he saw them enter. "Can I help you with something?" he asked eagerly, not expecting customers at such a late hour.

Alana nodded and said, "Yes, we're looking to buy some food, although I'm still not quite sure what any of us want." She felt slightly embarrassed at that. Fortunately for them the baker didn't seem to mind and said, "Well, is there anything you know that you do not want? You could narrow it down with that."

On impulse, Aquata said, "Anything with fish in it." She then gasped when she realized what she had said and covered her mouth with both hands. Alana immediately tried to cover for her by saying, "But that doesn't help much, does it, since nothing in here contains fish?"

The baker chucked at both remarks and said, "No, I suppose it doesn't. But by all means, feel free to look around as long as you wish." The girls proceeded to look at the many baked goods until Adella saw a large basket filled with baguettes. She quickly picked it up and brought it back to the counter. The baker's eyes widened when he saw what she had picked up.

"Uh, miss, that is very expensive. It might be better suited," he began to stammer, but stopped when Adella placed a few of her coins on the table. He gasped. "That's more than enough to pay for everything in this store!" he exclaimed. "And I haven't nearly enough to repay you," he added timidly.

"It's alright, sir. You don't need to repay us."

"Please," he insisted. "At least take this as well." He picked up a dish of pastries and placed it in the basket.

Aquata smiled at the man's kindness. "Thank you, sir, but we really need to be going."

"Of course," the baker nodded. "Please, feel free to come back any time."

…

"Oh, these are delicious!" Adella shouted after she bit into one of the pastries. The three were now sitting around the fountain, the basket in the center of the bench. It had gotten darker and the area was now nearly deserted.

"Don't eat too many of them, Adella. Otherwise you'll ruin your figure," Alana teased, eating one of the other pastries.

"I thought you were only concerned with your own looks," Adella countered.

"Well, no one wants a fat mermaid," she teased again.

"Human," Aquata corrected before they got into an argument, taking a bite from her baguette.

"What?" the other two asked.

"Daddy said we can't let anyone know that we're really mermaids. None of us can say that. As long as we're here, we must pretend that we've been humans our entire lives and that mermaids don't even exist," she reminded them. Both girls nodded, reminding themselves to be more careful from that point. "But you're right, Adella. I hope all human food is this good," she whispered.

"I wish we had food like this back in Atlantica," Alana added.

"We should get back to thinking about how we can find Ariel," Aquata reminded them. She looked up and saw that the streets were now empty. That would cause more problems for them. She then heard Adella say, "I think we should worry about finding somewhere to stay for the night."

"Well, there's probably something we can find here. Anyone who travels through Atlantica can find it, so I'd imagine it's the same up here."

Adella picked up the basket and said, "We'd better hurry. I don't think it's safe to be out anywhere late at night."

"And not when you're in another kingdom," Aquata added. She motioned for them to follow her and they began to walk around the area. They had been walking for at least an hour when Adella plopped down on the ground and said, "This is hopeless. We don't even know what we're looking for. We're going to stuck out here all night."

"Adella, we can't lose heart if we want to find," she began before a raspy voice cut her off.

"What do we have here? Three girls, it looks like."

"Three _rich_ girls by the looks of it," a gruff voice added, pointing at the pouch of coins that Aquata was holding.

Before any of them had time to react, a third man grabbed Alana by the waist and pulled her roughly to him.

"Alright missy, give us the pouch or else she gets hurt," the man threatened Aquata.

"No," she gasped.

"You heard me," he whispered. "You don't want her to get hurt, do you?"

Before Aquata had a chance to answer, Alana stomped on the man's foot, causing him to let go and stagger back. Alana then jabbed the man in the side with her elbow as Aquata rushed and grabbed the man by the shoulder, shoving him with all her strength into a wall. She then tossed the pouch to Adella and shouted, "Run for it, Adella! We can handle them from here!"

Adella took off running, not even sure if she could trust a human at that point. She just wanted to get as far away from those humans as she possibly could. She soon found herself in a small alleyway, breathing heavily as she leaned against the wall of a nearby building. She tried to make sense of what had just happened. That baker had seemed kind to them, and it made her ask if not all humans were bad, even if they did eat fish. But then she and her sisters had just been attacked a group of humans, and now she doubted things again. Had her father been right? Were all humans barbarians? Would Ariel be in trouble?

_Ariel._

Had she forgotten all about her amidst this? And had she just left her sisters to fight off those humans, even if Aquata had told her to run? _I'm a terrible sister._ She placed her hands over her face and began to whimper, but then removed them when she saw a light in front of her. A young man dressed in some uniform stood in front her. He was holding something that was covered in some flickering orange substance that glowed. Adella could feel her face begin to heat up. Sweat collected on her brows. She began to feel dizzy as her heart pounded in her chest.

"Are you okay, miss?" the man asked, concern marking his face. "My patrol heard someone screaming and I came to investigate."

Adella could barely breathe now. She gestured wildly to her side and frantically shouted, "Sisters…attacked…sent to find help…please…"

Desperation clouded her. She didn't know if she could trust this man but she had to risk it. Her legs began to feel very weak and she collapsed forward. As she passed out, she could vaguely feel the man catching her.

…

Adella opened her eyes and quickly realized that she wasn't in the same spot where she had fainted. She was lying down on a very soft surface. A faint light came from a tall, thin, object to her side. She felt pleasantly warm from whatever was covering her up to her shoulders. Where was she? How had she gotten there? What had happened to her sisters? She lifted the cover and saw that she was no longer in the gown she had been wearing since she had become human. She now had on a plain, white, gown that went down to about her knees. A clicking sound made her look up and she saw the door to the room open. She braced herself and hoped that whoever it was wouldn't hurt her. A plump woman dressed in brown entered the room and stopped when she saw her. "Oh, thank heavens you're awake," she said softly. "Are you feeling alright, miss? Is there anything I can get for you? Food or drink?"

"Who are you?" Adella asked hesitantly.

The woman sat down on a chair near the headboard and kindly smiled at her.

"I'm Carlotta."

…

I hope you've liked it up to this point. I don't know if Triton is really in character here. I just thought this would be a great plot. You can let me know what you think. And I should clear this up and say that I've taken the sisters' ages from the first movie and their personalities from the third movie. The order in the first movie went: Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana.


End file.
